President's Pages in Princeton Alumni Weekly

Hurricane Katrina

November 2, 2005

Princeton is sometimes likened to a bubble—a place as peaceful as
it is beautiful. This semester the bubble has become a safe haven for
individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama. The magnitude of human suffering caused by the storm
and flooding defies description, with tens of thousands stripped of their homes
and livelihoods, and hundreds of their lives. Like colleges and universities
across the country, Princeton has risen to the humanitarian challenge posed by
this disaster, and I am pleased—though not surprised—by the creativity and
generosity of our University community’s response.

Princeton was still basking in the warmth of the last few days of
summer when Hurricane Katrina made its landfall on August 29. As its
impact became apparent, Executive Vice President Mark Burstein convened
a committee of administrators who could mobilize our institutional
resources, not only on behalf of Princetonians and their families in
devastated areas but also on behalf of affected sister academic
institutions, particularly those in New Orleans. Our first priority was
to ensure that all 71 of our students from Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Alabama were safe and that they had whatever assistance they needed to
travel to Princeton and embark on their studies. While many of these
students had escaped the fury of Katrina, others had not, arriving with
little more than the clothes on their backs. From toiletries to towels;
from counseling to financial aid, the University responded to their
immediate needs. While the experience of seeing everything you own
disappear in a moment will not easily be forgotten, the spirit of one
survivor, Lauren Bartholomew ’09, augurs well for the future. Speaking
at a benefit concert in September, she declared, “I am still alive and
will not let the dark side of Mother Nature deter me from continuing
the life I once lived. I, along with many loyal residents, will return
to the city we treasure and rebuild.”

As we extended a helping hand to our own students, our thoughts also
turned to their peers at hurricane-damaged institutions. In
anticipation of the forthcoming expansion of Princeton’s undergraduate
student body, we were in the unusual position of having a number of
vacant beds in Henry Hall. Furthermore, classes were not due to begin
until September 15—ideal conditions under which to bring evacuees to
the University for a semester so that their education would not be
interrupted. Still, time was of the essence, and over the Labor Day
weekend, I joined a small but enthusiastic band of administrators in
what can only be called an exercise in admission triage. Huddled around
a bank of telephones in our Office of Community and State Affairs, we
fielded more than 200 inquiries from displaced students and assembled
as much information about them as we could from cell phone
conversations, faxes, and information provided by third parties. At the
end of the long weekend, we admitted 23 undergraduates and five
graduate students to Princeton as visiting students, waiving tuition
and providing accommodation for all.

The undergraduates have formed a close-knit community
in Henry, complete with their own resident adviser, a student
from Tulane University who would have filled this role
on his home campus had Hurricane Katrina not intervened.
Thanks to the warm reception they have received, including
a successful “buddy” system that paired them with our
students, our visitors are forging ties with their
Princeton classmates, dining in our residential colleges,
participating in the give and take of precepts, and taking
advantage of extracurricular opportunities. One visiting
senior in classics is beginning his Tulane senior thesis
under the direction of Professor Robert Kaster. This outpouring
of assistance is a prime example of Princeton at its very best.

In addition to helping individuals, we have made an institutional
commitment to assist in the rebuilding of Dillard University, a
historically black institution that suffered crippling damage in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina. We are being joined in this effort by Brown
University, whose president, Ruth Simmons, is both a Dillard alumna and
a former vice provost at Princeton. Dillard, whose entire campus was
submerged in at least six feet of water, and then saw a number of its
historic buildings succumb to fire, faces enormous difficulties, not
the least of which is communication. Like so many residents of New
Orleans, Dillard’s staff has been scattered across the southern United
States, where they face the dual challenge of reconstituting their
lives and reviving their institution, initially from afar. One
administrator, who was evacuated with her husband and two children by
helicopter with no more than a bag apiece, has had to turn to her host
community’s public library for computer access, which is why much of
our initial emphasis has been on helping her and her colleagues
communicate with one another and the world at large. In the months
ahead, we stand ready to offer a wide range of support and counsel,
whether that means conducting damage assessments, helping with contract
and insurance negotiations, restoring waterlogged holdings in their
library, or providing surplus furniture and computers.

This account does not begin to encompass the generous support
of individual students, faculty, and staff who have organized
benefits—from concerts to charity auctions—made donations,
opened their homes, and, in some cases, traveled to
hurricane-ravaged areas to share their expertise under
a two-week paid leave of absence program created for
this purpose. About a dozen displaced faculty have
already come to Princeton to pursue their research,
and thanks to the efforts of Professor of Music Scott Burnham,
the sweet sounds of New Orleans will be heard on campus
with the arrival of celebrated singer and keyboardist
Wilson Turbinton (better known as “Willie Tee”), who hails
from one of that city’s hardest hit neighborhoods.
Hurricane Katrina has left its survivors with a staggering
amount of work to do, but as our University community
has amply demonstrated, the citizens of the Gulf Coast
do not face this task alone.